


The Foster Family

by PeachTale



Series: Wounded Soldiers [3]
Category: Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, Beyblade
Genre: Blade Sharks, Foster Family, Friendship, Gen, mentions of Grandpa Granger, slow build up for friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-12
Packaged: 2019-10-09 00:56:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17397050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachTale/pseuds/PeachTale
Summary: Kenny comes home from school to meet his new foster sibling.  He certainly didn't expect it to be HIM of all people, and he also didn't expect to have an unwanted reunion with Kai's old gang, the Blade Sharks.





	The Foster Family

He panted as he ran down the street, turning a corner sharply and avoiding bumping into a mother and child, he didn’t slow down until he saw his home, the lights of the cafe below the apartment that he and his parents lived in were a sign that he could  _slow down_ and catch his breath.

He had  accidentally been held back at school, not due to him getting into trouble, but instead he was talking with Tyson. Well actually it was more that Tyson was still bragging over his win against the Demolition Boys leader, although from what Kenny had seen, the leader of the Russian team didn’t seem to mind too much about his loss, though he was certain the red head would be bristling to hear what Tyson was saying right now  about their match. At least Kenny  _thought_ he would, but he wasn’t sure  _how_ the Russian would have felt about it, even with the limited information they had been given from Kai. Yet there was one thing that he  _was_ certain of, he would need to start nagging at his friend to return to his regimented training, as he was certain that would have happened had Kai stuck around to do the deed for him. But the bluenette had disappeared, which he always did, but this time no one knew  _where_ he was, but Kenny wasn’t going to delve into finding him, Kai deserved a break from the sport, and the  _team_ too.

He never told Tyson  _why_ he needed to rush home, in fact he never actually started to run until he was certain the other boy was out of sight, then he just  _ran_ as fast as his legs would take him. He wasn’t the most athletic, it was even more obvious when he was in a team of people who  _were_ somewhat athletic, at least Kai and Rei proved that they were highly skilled in that regards, Max barely made it and Tyson really just needed to apply himself more, but Kenny knew he was athletic like Rei and Kai at least, he just didn’t have the stamina to do so if he wasn’t  _forced_ to do so.

However  _today_ was the day that he would get a new foster sibling, although he had no idea what time they would arrive at, yet he wanted to try and make a good first impression, after all he was normally looked upon by his parents as being the one that the foster children would rely upon and talk to about what they were going through. He could then report back to his parents about how they were  _actually_ getting along, who would then let the agency know if things weren’t going smoothly or if they were.

He went through the busy cafe, easily avoiding the staff serving and the customers walking through to leave or head to the restrooms, he went through the Private Staff Area door and  headed up the stairs going to the kitchen to see a note was left for him, it gave him an overview about his foster sibling, the information was the same as what his parents were given from authorities, although they were given a little bit more than this, which meant that Kenny had a rough idea of what he was dealing with, but without being biased from the get go. As he read further down the note, he was surprised that this time his foster sibling was  _older_ than him, and that interestingly enough they were from a different country. He noticed that he was to meet the foster sibling in the garden behind the cafe, neutral territory and although it was behind the cafe, there was a large row of bushes that kept the cafe’s windows view obscured from the rest of the garden, meaning that they would met in relative privacy.

As he walking through the garden, he spotted a teen, he didn’t take them in that clearly until he got closer and he was  _stunned_ at who was before him.

The blader from Russia, the teen that  _Tyson_ had boasted about beating not too long ago at school.

_ Tala _ .

“Wha...” his eyes were wide, his heart was starting to race, his mind was in a whirl of thoughts and emotions of all the negative kind were rushing through him.

A smirk graced the Russian’s lips, his arms were crossed as he leaned against a tree, he looked like he was actually  _ meant to be there _ and that Kenny’s reaction didn’t bother him in the least. Though Kenny got the feeling that under normal circumstances Tala wouldn’t have been overly bothered by any of it in general.

Mentally shaking himself, he did his best to pull his thoughts together and put them in order of some kind, he had to focus on the here and now, because Tala was _here_ and he was clearly being fostered by _his family_ , so there had to be something more going on and he wanted answers. “What are you doing here? And where is the rest of your team?” He began to tremble at the thought that the other three from his team were around somewhere, like this was another trap that was laid out by BioVolt, even though he knew that the authorities and the BBA were dealing with the whole mess that had happened in Russia.

The smirk faded. “Relax kid, you’re just stuck with me.” He told the shorter teen easily, and now Kenny noticed that Tala looked rather tired, though he figured it was due to jetlag. “The other’s are somewhere else.”

It was vague and the look that Tala was giving him while he said that made his realise what was going on. “You don’t know?” He was still on edge, after all he had seen first hand what Tala could do, what his team was willing to do, and what BioVolt had been  _close_ to accomplishing. He kept reminding himself that the authorities were the one’s who placed Tala here, to have him be part of a  _foster family_ , but another part of his mind went off down a road that the Demolition Boys had managed to evade authorities, and that could have been the reason as to why Kai had disappeared so abruptly!

H e shook his head and the tiredness that Kenny had seen was pushed to the side, a new mask was in place, one that was probably more secure, one that he was used to seeing on the face of the other teen. “No this is part of the  _healing_ process.” He practically spat out the words in disgust, but those were the words that Kenny needed to calm down his overactive imagination.

He realised that if Tala was in Japan, the other three would probably have been spread across the world, though he wondered how the team would cope with not having any type of contact with each other.

“So my parents are fostering you?” It was a stupid question, but he wanted to make sure that this was a ruse of some kind, yet even if it was, Tala would be able to kidnap him and no one would be the wiser, his parents were busy with the cafe after all.

“Exactly. It was thought that this would be the best place for me.” He shrugged as he said that, as though he wasn’t completely convinced that this was actually the best choice for him, and Kenny could share that sentiment until he realised what he had _said._

“Wait, the best place? What do you mean?” Once more he pushed his imagination to the side, trying to remind himself that Tala still hadn’t threatened him, which gave him a bit more confidence to ask questions in regards to this odd situation they were now in.

Tala pushed himself off the tree he had been leaning against, and in that moment Kenny thought he saw that well crafted mask disappear, he saw the tiredness return and he could  _swear_ that he saw a hunt of nervousness and weariness too,

“Honestly I just don’t want anyone to be aware that I am here. My placement is a lot riskier than the other’s from what I’ve been told. None of us are thrilled at this prospect of being _fostered_ out, less so that we are split up and scattered around the world. Of course mine had a risk due to _Tyson_ being aware of where I am. Yet with it being a new country I can _heal_ without the restraints of my past following me until I can process it at my own pace. That’s why we’re been separated from each other.”

“I… I see.” It was all Kenny could think of saying. 

It made sense of course, the Demolition Boys all had to heal in their own time, all of them had mental scars, if what Kai had told them what had been going on in the Abbey was correct, then the team definitely had a lot to process while they were separated. They would need to get in touch with their emotions, the emotions that they had essentially removed from them while they were being brutally trained to be the world top beybladers. Though he felt that Tala could take the longest, not just because he had been the leader of the Demolition Boys, but because he had been the Ultimate Boss, the last blader to face off against Tyson for the fate of the world and he had been moulded into that position by Boris and BioVolt.

“So it _might_ be an idea for you to not tell _Tyson or the other’s_ that I am here.” He growled out, before pausing and added with a touch of lightness to his tone; “please.” It was clearly an after thought, the word was something that was still new to him.

Hearing all that  was all Kenny really needed to know in regards to Tala’s state of mind right now. “You don’t need to worry about that, they don’t come over here and I tend to keep this place on the down-low.”

“Huh? But you’re all _friends_ right?”

Kenny heard it, the term friends was something foreign to him and he couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards him, BioVolt took away his childhood and the prospect of him actually having proper friends. Perhaps while he was here, he might be able to make some, or at least acquaintance.

“Of course we are. But Tyson… Tyson’s rather loud, you might have noticed?” Kenny spotted the smirk that was slowly stating to return and he continued on. “And most of the kids who come here really need a place that is quieter, it wouldn’t be fair on them to be around a guy like him, and it wouldn’t be fair on him to have to keep that energy inside.”

Tala simply nodded, he could easily understand the reasoning behind it, and he knew that if he needed some quiet time, having Tyson around  _wouldn’t_ be beneficial, and chances were high that he would start some kind of fight with him. Although his therapist did try to give him some pointer’s in regards to his temper, keeping it in check and leaning techniques to get away from a situation that was causing his temper to flare and make him want to lash out.

As they spoke, he found that perhaps the old man had been  _right_ in regards to Kenny, he  _might_ be able to gain a friend.

“So will you be going to school?” He pulled the conversation away from that, because he didn’t want to talk about Tyson right now. Although he got a feeling that Tala wouldn’t be going to school if he wanted to avoid Tyson or even Kai, unless of course he was going to be home-schooled instead.

“Huh no.” The smirk wasn’t leaving his lips any time soon now. “You’re schooling is different here, but all of my schooling had been done in the Abbey.” He paused for a moment, realising that he wasn’t going to return to that building again, that he was no longer trapped by those restrictive rules any more. He would never admit it to anyone; except maybe his therapist or the old man; but the thought of that scared him, yet he pushed it away for the moment, he didn’t want to consider that for the moment, not yet, he was still trying to settle. “I’m further ahead from what I’ve been told, so much so that I would have graduated by now. Though your mother suggested that I go to the local library.”

Kenny smiled at that, it was his mother’s gentle way of suggesting that Tala would need to leave the house once he had settled down with them, although most of his foster siblings  _had_ to go to school, but at the weekends they were free to enjoy being a kid, to go to a quiet place in regards to what they needed for themselves mentally, and going to the library normally did the trick, it was another safe haven for them aside from the apartment.

“You could learn something new while you are there.” He pointed out and then there was a moment of awkward silence between them, which wasn’t overly surprising when they had been on opposing sides of a battle not too long ago.

“I’m sure I’ll do that.” Although Tala doubted that he would find anything that would really interest him, and he figured he could use some of that free time to see if the old man was free. “But enough about that, where can I train without anyone realising that I am here… or figuring out who I am?”

He didn’t expect this question, although he wasn’t surprised by it. To him beyblading was a hobby but to someone like Tala? It was his whole  _life_ .

“I… I know of a place.” He knew that his mother wouldn’t let Tala go off on his own, given that he had only just arrived, but he was okay with that, besides how would Tala figure out where to go if he _didn’t_ go with him? He just hoped the place would be empty. “I’ll show you where it is, but I need to get changed first.”

Tala nodded and seeing that Kenny ran off, rushing up the stairs to his room and got changed quickly as possible before he scurried back down  to let his mother know that he and Tala would be going out, because Tala wanted to figure the area out in regards to the library and to stay awake longer to fight off his jet-lag. Granted Tala never said that, but Kenny was certain that he would appreciate the lie later, after all it meant that they would be able to spend some extra time outside the house to train.

 

 

The odd pair left the house, with Kenny continuing to reassure his mother that he would help Tala out if there was any trouble, causing the Russian to try and suppress a laugh at that, because why would _he_ need to be protected?

As they walked further away from the apartment heading towards the river before they turned down to an ally way, which was when Tala noticed how _tense_ Kenny was becoming, the boy kept moving his head from side to side, as if he was expecting something to come out and jump him. It was obvious that this tension wasn’t because of him, Kenny was becoming hyper vigilant, so he glanced around and spotted when had been making the other teen weary, a few teens had started to emerge from the alley, having been in hiding in the cracked walls and under the bins.

Tala frowned as he watched them approach, yet it was worse for Kenny, because he _recognised_ a few of these teens, and he was fully aware that they spotted him too.

“Drat.” He muttered quietly starting to shake in fear as the Russian looked over at him curiously, still not understanding what was going on.

“What’s going on?” He looked over at the teens that had begun to slowly walk towards them in a threatening manner.

Kenny tried to calm himself down, but he was still trembling in fear. He might have seen all of them be defeated before, not only by Tyson but also by Kai too, and he had seen so many fierce bladers with the BladeBreakers, so why had he returned to this mindset that he had _before_ he had left for the Championships? Probably because he was on his own, aside from Tala being there and he wasn’t sure if the Russian would go out of his way to help him in this situation.

“Some of these guy’s were from Kai’s old beyblade gang.” He replied, doing his best to become invisible, yet it wasn’t possible, not only because the bladers had clocked him a while ago, but also due to his companion being taller than him with vibrant red hair that was set in it’s own unique style that made him _impossible_ to miss in a crowd.

“ _Old gang?”_ Tala chuckled as he glanced over to the other bladers. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be safe with me.”

Hearing those words, he should have felt relieved, possibly even _safe_ , but he had seen this group in action before and he was certain that they would have pushed themselves a lot harder than they had before, to prove to Kai that they were worthy of him to return to his leadership role. Though Kenny knew that Kai wouldn’t consider return to his former position, he had grown so much, not just as a blader, but as a person too. If he was to return to this, it would be a step back not just personally but also professionally too, these bladers might have consider themselves stronger than they were before, but Kai had undergone a lot more of trails and tribulations, he was far beyond this gangs reach now.

As his thoughts moved away from the present situation he wasn’t away of a hand reaching out and grabbing him roughly, almost causing him to lose his balance, though another hand grabbed him to steady him before he fell over. Glancing to the side he noticed that it was Tala who steadied him _and_ grabbed his would-be assailant, yanking him away from Kenny and towards himself, those piercing blue eyes glaring at the teen who would attempt to attack someone that he was with.

“ _Back off_.” He growled at him, shoving him away and looking over at Kenny to check that no one else was going to try and jump him.

“This is _our turf_.” A brown haired teen snapped at him, only for Tala to laugh in his face while Kenny tried to hide behind him.

“Your _turf_? I don’t think so.” Tala sounded completely confident, making Kenny regret wanting to help him find a place for him to train, as far as his overworked brain was thinking, Tala was going to get them both hurt., even though he had been the World Champion, that he had had Tyson on the run during that final battle, that he was just as powerful as Kai. But Kenny’s mind wasn’t thinking logically, it was picking the worst case scenario, and Kenny didn’t have the conscious thought to reign it in. “Relax kid, I know what I’m doing.” He spoke quietly to Kenny, making the shorter teens mind break away from those panicked thoughts and he looked over at him.

He remembered what little Kai had told them all about Tala;

“ _He doesn’t exactly have the best temperament. That might be one of the reasons how we became friends...”_ Kai had trailed off after saying that, but Kenny didn’t badger him about it, he, Rei and even Max had to stop Tyson from doing so however.

Yet right now Tala was calm and _full_ of confidence, he didn’t look the least bit worried at the fact that the large group were out for blood.

“Oh, so just _you_ against all of _us_?” A new voice came out from the shadows and Tala glanced over to find that there was a lot more bladers than he originally though, all of them ready to battle him.

“Tala, maybe we should...” Kenny glanced around, thinking that this would be the only chance they would have to get away, to retreat and he would figure out another place for Tala to train.

Of course the Russian ignored him, who looked over at the large group. “Beydish or here?” His eyes looked over all the bladers that were glaring at him before they came to a stop at the teen in front of him, who jerked his head to lead the way, heading towards an abandoned warehouse that had a large dish in the middle of it.

Seeing that beydish reminded Kenny of the last time he was here, when Tyson had come to save him after he had been kidnapped by this gang. His mind was going back to it’s panic mode, as much as he didn’t want to think about the worst that could happen, he couldn’t help it, yet a small voice reminded him that this was _Tala_ , he was an experienced blader, he _had to be_ to have gotten so far in BioVolt.

Tala stepped up to the dish, with the large group of bladers following suit, all of them looking sharply at him, clearly wanting to be the one to knock his bey out of the dish. He turned to glance over at Kenny, who by now looked incredibly pale and he gave him a slight nod, before returning his focus on the large group of bladers, bringing out his own bey from his pocket, glancing at his bit beast he had complete confidence that together they would easily defeat this group.

Kenny hopped that nod that Tala directed towards him was meant to be reassuring, but right now he had no idea _what_ to think. He took a few slow, deep breaths to calm down, he _knew_ that Tala could defeat them, he had so much training behind him, but how _ruthless_ would he be?

In a moment the battle had started and then, it was all over, much to Kenny’s delight. The battle was quick, Wolborg picked off every blader without much of a fight and as Kenny looked over the beyblades he _could_ see, none of them were destroyed or badly damaged, they were all simply knocked out of the dish. That was surprising, he would have thought that Tala would have gone out of his _way_ to destroy the blades that had dared to considering battling him.

“Is that _it_?” The Russia looked over at the large group of bladers before him. “And I heard that _Kai_ used to lead you?”

The group might have been defeated, but they still glared at him, with a few other’s added some extra glared at Kenny, who tried to ignore them, he just hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with them alone and get Tala to battle in a rematch.

“You know, if you are all serious of becoming stronger,” Tala began and all eyes were on him now. “Then you _might_ as well have _me_ incharge.”

Everyone just starred at him, stunned at his suggestion, even _Kenny_ hadn’t expected that. Though he also worried that, while the Blade Sharks were clearly impressed by him, as well as intimidated, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to _heal_ properly if he did this.

The gang murmured in agreement, no one was going out of their way to challenge him on his proposal to take a position that had _never_ been filled since Kai had left.

“Since there’s no arguments, we’ll meet back here tomorrow night at this time.” He commanded and the group started to trickle out of the warehouse, grabbing their bey’s and scurried past Tala.

Kenny felt relief flood through him, the threat was gone, although he noticed that Tala never picked up Wolborg from the dish, letting the bey continue to spin around while he looked over at him and when the last balder left he finally spoke. “You know, I had expected you to argue against that.”

Kenny laughed, _this_ was the Tala he would be happy to get to know, not the one that had appeared before the Blade Sharks. “How could I? It’s not like you would have listened to me anyway.”

Of course they were both aware of the truth, Kenny would never have spoken up about his disapproval, or at least what he would have imagined what could have been Tala’s therapist’s disapproval, because of fear.

Fear of the Blade Sharks and the lingering fear of Tala.

Even though Kenny was starting to feel like there could very well be a chance that he would be able to get along with the Russian, he was still weary of him, for the moment at least, after all he hadn’t really see the best of Tala, and that first impression that he had was a lie, to get him and the other BladeBreakers to leave the Abbey grounds to have Kai join them once more. No one could blame him for that, least of all Tala.

“True, but I can train them and turned them into superior bladers than what they are right now. You can’t expect me to just ignore this opportunity.” The look at he gave Kenny showed him that he didn’t _want_ this, he _needed it_ , and in that moment Kenny realised that maybe his therapist _would_ be okay with this. “I was raised to be part of this sport Kenny, this _is_ my life. What else can I do if this was also taken from me?”

The mask that Tala was weary slipped, the desperation was there, he _needed_ to be part of this sport, it was in his blood now. Yet the question was one that he couldn’t answer, but he said something that he normally wouldn’t say to _any_ foster sibling, but this was _Tala_.

“You say you were raised to be part of this sport but...”

“You think I was _abused_ and _forced_ into this?” Those blue eyes narrowed at him and Kenny took a few steps back, but he noticed that Tala shook his head, losing the tension in his shoulders, mentally reminding himself that he needed to pick the correct words to get someone to understand where he was coming from instead of intimidating them. “We _were_ abused, there’s no getting around that… but this sport? This was a _lifeline_ for us. If we did well then we wouldn’t be punished, and if we _kept_ doing well? We would raise up in the ranks. _That_ was my goal, to be at the top, it was the only way to no long have to deal with any of the beatings and other punishments that were given out. I _refuse_ to let that affect how I play this sport.”

Kenny looked from him to the beydish, seeing that although Tala appeared to be calm and in control – to an extent at least – Wolborg was spinning around unsteadily. Tala talked a good game, but his bey was showing Kenny how he was _actually_ feeling. It was a good thing, for Kenny at least, since he had some kind of clue as to how Tala was feeling, or if he had a mask on.

“Well… I guess I should come along and help out. I should be able to for a little while, at least until Tyson realises that he need to get back to some serious training again.” Kenny suggested, thinking about the extra data he would be able to collect, and finding himself rather excited about to prospect of starting over with a completely new group, all new data, new improvements to the balders bey’s and the skills they would all come up with.

Of course as he had said, he wouldn’t be able to fully commit, the BladeBreakers were his main focus. He would help out more at the beginning, then he would just need to be around more sporadically than he would be, it would be hard but at the same time it was a new challenge that he liked the sound of. Of course Tala was right, this sport was his saving grace as well as his life, and Kenny was happy to help him get a new perspective on things by helping him out when he could.

Had he been more aware though, he would have noticed the genuine smile on Tala’s face when he revealed that he was willing to help him.

The Russian was glad that although they weren’t friends, at least he had gained a bit of trust from the other teen, it wasn’t much, but it meant a lot to him under the circumstances.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I have had the rough draft of this sitting around for a while now, but I sort of just didn't have the motivation to get into it fully again. Now I have, and although it's not a complete series I hope you do enjoy this little update that I made, and that this part will be multi-chapters... hopefully.


End file.
